The Ukrainian duo Interesni Kazki, Aleksei Bordusov and Vladimir Manzhos, better known as AEC and Waone respectively, opened last week their new show ‘Sacred Gravitation’ at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York where the artists are presenting their brand new body of work of highly elaborated drawings and paintings that merge physical and spiritual elements reflecting on the nature of existence.
‘Sacred Gravitation’ is, like the rest of Interesni Kazki’s work, is inspired by science, religion, mythology, folklore and history. Each piece has its own story it is not possible to unite them by one expression or concept. One thing is clear, they challenge our perception of the world and what is physically visible.
According to anthropologist and curator Dr. Rafael Schacter, “The celestial, allegorical paintings of Interesni Kazki attempt to bring both the spiritual and the mystical into the everyday. Intertwining folk-history and religious imagery with science fiction and fantasy, they present the viewer with a profusion of mysterious narratives and visual fables, which they must attempt to enter into and disentangle. Inspired as much by artists such as Dali and Moebius as they are by the Ukrainian muralist tradition and native fairy tales, Interesni Kazki have thus formed a style of contemporary muralism with a transcendental, emotive aesthetic at its core, a popular, ethereal form of public art.”
About the artists
Interesni Kazki is a duo currently based in Kiev who also go by their respective aliases AEC and Waone. The pair met in 1999 while painting traditional letter graffiti in the crew Ingenious Kids (IK). In 2005, after being exposed to innovative street art they had seen abroad, they began collaborating as Interesni Kazki and abandoned style writing in exchange for compositions with characters existing in a dreamlike universe. In 2010, they had their first solo show in France at Galerie All Over and have since exhibited in galleries in Italy, Los Angeles and New York. Their large scale murals can be found all over the world, in countries such as Mexico, Croatia, Portugal, Spain, Slovakia, India, South Africa and the United States.
‘Sacred Gravitation’ will be on view through February 6th, 2016 at the gallery located on 529 West 20th Street, Galley I, New York.
Images via Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
I love this stuff, it is really strange and wonderful. Like a collision between Bruegel, Dali and Miro!
Exactly, and Hieronymus Bosch : )
And Magritte…they appear to have taken on several eras in art and melded them. really terrific art. If I had money I would buy such things.
me too!